Township board supports casino at Great Lakes Downs

Tuesday

Jul 29, 2008 at 12:01 AMJul 29, 2008 at 1:25 AM

The Fruitport Township board narrowly passed a resolution Monday, July 28, to support a casino proposed for the former Great Lakes Downs site.

Although the township meeting was intended to be informational, the board voted to support the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians’ project with a 4-3 vote in front of a heavily pro-casino audience. Many of the 100 residents at the meeting urged the board to welcome the tribe with a resolution.

Township Supervisor Ron Cooper voted against the measure, and is concerned the township will lose leverage in future negotiations because of a premature show of support.

The Fruitport Township board narrowly passed a resolution Monday, July 28, to support a casino proposed for the former Great Lakes Downs site.

Although the township meeting was intended to be informational, the board voted to support the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians’ project with a 4-3 vote in front of a heavily pro-casino audience. Many of the 100 residents at the meeting urged the board to welcome the tribe with a resolution.

Township Supervisor Ron Cooper voted against the measure, and is concerned the township will lose leverage in future negotiations because of a premature show of support.

“It’s very foolish,” Cooper said. “They completely ignored the importance of dotting the ‘i’s’ and crossing the ‘t’s’ in this agreement with the Indians.”

Township Trustee Chris Beck made the motion of support for the casino project. He said the township board will iron out details later, but should take Muskegon County’s lead and welcome the developers.

The tribe already purchased the former Great Lakes Downs site near the junction of I-96 and U.S. 31. Tribe officials said the proposed project could bring in around 1,000 jobs to the community.

“Anybody who comes to the community with a project gets our support if they bring jobs,” Beck said.

The Little River Band needs support from Fruitport Township in order to get the ball rolling with the U.S. Department of Interior, Larry Romanelli-Ogema said.
The tribe opened a casino outside of Manistee in 1999, which now has more than 1,000 full-time employees.

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